AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Matt wasn’t working alone, Hallie. He might be behind bars, but I am finishing this.” His words don’t make sense, and my mind struggles to figure out what he is talking about. Suddenly, he lets me go, pushing me in front of him. I stumble on the rough forest ground, the stones and twigs cutting into my bare feet. When I turn around, he’s holding a gun, and it’s pointed straight at me.
“Walk.”
I stare at him.
Nausea is becoming evident.
Terrified.
Panicked.
Despair.
Every emotion I could possibly feel rolls through me one after the other, pushing at the boundaries of my sanity.
“Now!” he yells.
I jump at his tone and spin, doing as he says. My eyes flick around, looking for some way of leaving a trail for whoever comes looking, but I’m only wearing my bikini. I’d taken my charm bracelet off when I got in the hot tub, or I could have discreetly dropped the charms, hoping they’d be spotted. Glancing down at my bikini, I look at the hot pink beads hanging from the edge of the bikini bottoms and wonder if I can pull any of them off.
Needing to keep him distracted while I try, I start talking, “Why did you go after Kitty in the bar?” I gasp as a thought occurs to me and ask, “Or is she part of it too?”
I hope to God she isn’t. I’d never be able to trust anyone again. My fingers have stopped tugging on the cotton the beads are attached to as I wait for him to answer.
He laughs, but there’s no humor. “She’s got nothing to do with it.” I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, relieved at his words. “I’d been following you for weeks. The plan was to hit on you. It didn’t take me long to realize how uptight you were, though. So I knew I needed to find another way to get to you. Kitty was the answer.”
I recoil at his words, feeling like I’m going to be physically ill.How had I not known he’d been following me?
Suddenly, the cotton I’m pulling on comes undone, and I can remove a handful of the beads. I drop one and hold my breath as I wait to see if he’s noticed. I want to look back and see if it’s visible, but I don’t want to draw attention, so I keep walking.
A few seconds pass, and he hasn’t noticed, so I keep him talking. “How do you know Matt?” I ask, praying someone will detect I’m missing soon. They have to, it’s the only chance I’ve got.
“Let’s just say we go way back. Matt watched out for me when no one else did. I owed him, and he called in the favor.”
We walk in silence for a few minutes, and when he doesn’t elaborate, I try again, dropping another bead as we walk.
“How did Matt know I was here?”
“I bugged your phone,” he says flippantly. I frown, trying to think back to when he would have had access to my phone and I can’t think of a single time.
“How?” My voice doesn’t hide my surprise, and he laughs.
“Actually, Sawyer let me.”
I gasp, and my stomach twists. “What?” I whisper, my hands wrapping around my body. I’m suddenly cold, and my whole body begins to tremble. There’s no way Sawyer would let him bug my phone. No way.
“Well, ‘let’ is probably a bit of an exaggeration. I came over one day with some bullshit story that Kitty needed Tylenol. I planned to bug the apartment, then I saw your phone on the table in the entryway, and I changed my mind.”
I drop another bead, relief washing over me knowing Sawyer wasn’t involved. It’s quickly followed by guilt at ever thinking he was. My mind flicks to the call I made to my mom after we arrived at the cabin, and that’s when Nick or Blake or whatever his name is, found out where we were.It’s all my fault.If I hadn’t turned my phone on, Matt would never have found us.
“Where are we going?” He doesn’t answer, and I shiver, the dense forest blocking out the sun’s heat. We’ve been walking for about ten minutes, and it feels like he doesn’t know where he’s headed. The farther I get from the cabin, the less chance I have of anyone finding me, and I’m running out of beads. I’ve dropped all but two, and I’ve no idea if anyone will even notice them. Maybe if I can keep him talking, I can make a wide loop around and head back the way we came.
“Why was Amanda’s funeral held in Savannah?” He doesn’t answer, and I stop, turning around to face him. I glance behind him and hope erupts in my chest seeing one of the bright pink beads on the ground.
“Matt never said you were this chatty.” He flicks the gun forward. “Keep moving.” Turning back, I carry on moving a little slower.
“Amanda grew up in Savannah. Her aunt is her only living relative. Despite having nothing to do with her for years, her mental health isn’t the best. Persuading her to have the funeral here was the easy part. We knew Amanda was dying. We just had to bide our time until we could put the plan into action.”
“All this was planned?” I ask, my voice not hiding my surprise.
